Viper's New Hope
by Angel of Death CSV
Summary: Star Commander Scott strives to restore Clan Steel Viper to glory.
1. Default Chapter

_First Story of Viper's Rise_ Prologue 

            _FREEBIRTH FALCON SURATS!  _Scott thought.  _We are going to lose our chance at renewing our invasion against the Inner Sphere all because of that Falcon Khan, Marthe Pryde._

            He stepped his _Cauldron-Born_ back, weathering another shot from a _Shadowcat_ and returning fire with his Gauss Rifle.  The nickel-iron sphere ricocheted off the smaller mech, crushing over a ton of armor.  Scott followed through with his 5-caliber autocannon, digging into the _Shadowcat_'s innards.  When he followed through with his Streak SRM2 and ER Medium Laser, the _Shadowcat_ collapsed.

            It was then that he received the order from their Khan Perigard Zalmon to retreat to the dropships and lift off planet.  As one of the two survivors of his Star, Scott made his way back to the dropship, along with Natalie, his only remaining Starmate.  He continued fighting his pursuers until he made it under the protection of his dropship's guns.  The Vipers had been granted Hegira by Marthe Pryde.  As a result, no honor was lost in their withdraw, but he still felt the terrible burden of defeat.

            Only one cluster of warriors made it off planet, a mixed cluster of mechs and elementals.  It would take a long time to rebuild from the destruction the Jade Falcons had wreaked, but it would be done.

            After his performance in the battles against Jade Falcons and the loss of so many blood-named warriors, Scott was qualified to enter into a Trial of Bloodright to earn his blood-name.  Scott was unable to find a sponser for his entry and therefore entered into the Grand Melee, his last chance at a blood-name.  The Grand Melee was a free-for-all battle involving a dozen or more warriors.  The last warrior standing would be entered into the competition to earn his blood-name.

            Scott was entering the competition for the Blood-name Masters, and soon after would be entering in a Trial of Possession for the rank of Star Commander and command of a Star of mechs.

            **Chapter 1**

            First off was the Grand Melee.  Scott and the other eleven mechs set up in the arena.  In the middle of the dome was a crater.  When the fighting began most of the mechs made their way toward the crater and commenced combat with their foes there.  Scott and a few others stayed on the perimeter and fought there.  Scott's first opponent was a _Nova_.  Weighing in at 50 tons, the other mech was somewhat smaller than Scott's, but was still a very potent design.

            Scott opened the fight with his ER Medium Laser, his gauss rifle, and LRMs, hoping that his long-range weapons would some significant damage.  They did, but not as much as the six ER Medium Lasers from the _Nova_ did, followed by the other six that that mech mounted.  Scott had managed to close range and now hit with everything he had, LBX, Gauss Rifle, Medium Laser, Streak SRMs, and LRMs all hitting at once to savage the other mech.

            The _Nova_ took to the air on its jump jets after the devastating attack from Scott.  As the 50-ton mech flew backward, Scott hit it with his extended-range medium laser and his ten LRMs.  Then, as the mech hit the ground, Scott wrecked it with another gauss slug.  The momentum of the backward jump combined with the kinetic force of the gauss rifle had the _Nova_ on its back and out of the fight.

            Scott turned and saw all the other mechs on the field still locked in battle.  He spotted a _Timberwolf_ about to drop a _Summoner_.  As the _Timberwolf_ finished its fight and turned to battle Scott, Scott pulled the trigger, and a well-aimed salvo of weapons crashed into to _Timberwolf_, crushing, melting, and destroying armor.  The 75-ton enemy mech returned fire with its paired large lasers, paired medium lasers, and its two LRM20s.  The lasers dug into the sides of Scott's torso, dealing significant damage.  LRMs exploded over every section of his mech.  Despite all the damage, Scott kept his mech upright and hit back at the _Timberwolf_.  His gauss rifle punched through the torso armor on _Timberwolf_, impacting and destroying its gyro.  The dead shell of the mech fell to the ground and Scott moved on.

            His next target found him, when the two ER PPCs from an _Adder_ found his center torso by the way of its advanced targeting computer.  Scott fired back at the 35-ton mech with everything he had, and the brute force of the assault sent the _Adder_ tumbling down into the crater.  Seconds late, Scott heard a chain of explosions.  Out of the smoke and dust came the only other surviving mech, a 60-ton _Maddog_.  Scott was not fast enough on the trigger, and the _Maddog_ fired first, sending a pair of gauss rifles into Scott's torso, breaking through his armor and crushing supports.  Luckily the _Maddog_ was severely damaged from the explosion and Scott's return volley dropped it.

            The battle was over.  Scott was now going to move on to face his first opponent in single combat on the way to earning his blood-name.

            **Chapter 2**

             Scott was half way to his starting point for the first fight on his way to his blood-name.  His opponent was a competent mechwarrior from Zeta Galaxy, but Scott knew he could beat him.  It was an even match tonnage wise, his 65-ton _Cauldron-Born_ against his enemy's 65-ton _Hellbringer_.  At range, Scott was outgunned, but at point blank, Scott's _Cauldron-Born_ could blow the _Hellbringer_ out of the water.

            Once both mechs reached their starting points, the match began.  The _Hellbringer'_s pilot found a perch on a nearby hill and stood there daring Scott to come.  Not wanting to disappoint, Scott moved in.  Under fire from a pair of ER PPCs, Scott made his advance, reaching out with his gauss rifle and his LRM10 pack.  His opponent got the better out of that exchanged and looked to finish the battle by closing in and unleashing his medium lasers and SRMs.  Scott gladly took the move, and as the _Hellbringer_ approached, Scott unleashed his deadly LB-5X autocannon, shredding armor all over the enemy mech.

            Scott held the trigger down and allowed four more shells to burst free and savage the _Hellbringer_.  After taking such heavy damage from the constant stream of autocannon fire, Scott quickly finished the battle with a well-placed gauss rifle slug.

            With his first battle over, Scott returned to the mechbay and ordered his tech to repair his _Cauldron Born_.  He also ordered his tech to change his _Cauldron Born_ to its Alternate A configuration.  He wanted an extra punch for his battle with his next opponent, and it would not hurt in the final round either.  The _Summoner_ he would have to face in his next battle would present somewhat of a challenge.  The 70-ton mech was faster, more maneuverable, and mounted jump jets.  Scott needed the advantages he could get, which were armor and firepower.  The _Cauldron Born_ was a mech with as much tolerance for damage as any mech he had ever seen, and in the Alternate A configuration, it boasted more firepower than many assault class mechs.

            It was time, two days had passed since his duel with the _Hellbringer_, and it was time for the next battle.  His mech was ready; the tech had done his job well.  Now it was time for the _Summoner_ to get a taste of what a _Cauldron Born_ could do in the right hands.  Both mechs headed out for their starting points.  Scott knew this warrior as well, a warrior from Delta Galaxy.  Scott knew that with his newly modified _Cauldron-Born A_, he would have a major advantage in firepower over his much more maneuverable 70-ton adversary.

            As the sign was given to begin the fight, Scott pushed his throttle to full, hoping to close the gap and bring his heavy autocannon to bear.  While he was still at range, Scott lashed out with his paired ER Large Lasers, searing a pair of holes into the enemy mech.  In turn, the other warrior hit back with his ER PPC and LRM 15 pack.  The damage was fairly even, but that would all change as Scott drew closer and fired his three ER Medium Lasers along with the Medium Pulse Laser his mech mounted.  His opponent answered with a few shells from its deadly LB 10X Autocannon.  But that was no match for the deadly shelling the _Summoner_ was about to suffer.

The gap closed more, and Scott unleashed a full alpha strike, consisting of two ER Large Lasers, three ER Medium Lasers, one Medium Pulse Laser, a Flamer, and the most deadly of all, his Ultra AC20.  Scott's heat went through the roof, but it was worth it.  The _Summoner_ flew backward spinning ten meters and skidded along the ground another five meters.  Scott thought it was over, and it pretty much was.  It took two minutes for the _Summoner _to regain its feet.  By then, Scott's heat level had dropped back down.  One burst from his autocannon put the enemy mech down for good.  It has been a rather lopsided battle.  _I think I am going to keep my Cauldron Born in this configuration for good_, Scott thought.

Chapter 3 

Scott's second battle was over and he was already planning for the final battle for his blood-name.  He decided to stay with his present configuration on his _Cauldron Born_.  He had seen its power and knew he would need it against his next opponent, who piloted an assault class mech.  The warrior he was to face was a member of Alpha Galaxy and an exceptional fighter in his _Gargoyle_.  The 80-ton mech mounted two Ultra AC5s, a pair of SRM6 launchers, and a single ER Medium Laser.  Scott had him outgunned, thanks to the advanced technology his new _Cauldron Born_ mounted.  Scott's was one of the newest mech designs the clans had and it showed.

The only advantage the _Gargoyle_ had was its armor, but not even that could bridge the gap.  But Scott knew he could not underestimate this warrior.  After all, he had made it to the finals same as Scott had, and he would likely be more prepared for Scott's weapons than the _Summoner_ had been.

Two days later, the fight was about to begin.  As before, Scott was on his way to his starting position.  His tech had done well with the minor repairs that had been needed.  He slowed his mech as he neared the starting point, and felt the smooth transition from fast to slow that his mech's gyro allowed, using Scott's own sense of balance to balance the mech.

As the battle began, Scott pushed his speed as fast as it went and slowed as he came into sensor range of the enemy mech.  Scott's two ER Large Lasers gave him a gross range advantage over his adversary and he was not about to let the opportunity slip by.  He sniped until the _Gargoyle_ got close enough bring its own weapons to bear.  At that point, Scott made an all out charge.  As the _Gargoyle_ fired its first salvo from its autocannons, Scott sidestepped his mech at running speed and continued charging.  The evasive move dodged the autocannons, but the seeking SRMs that followed struck dead center, shaking Scott up.

Scott continued moving forward, unleashing everything he had at the enemy mech with the same devastating effect they had against the _Summoner_ except for the fact that the pilot held his mech in balance and stayed standing.  _Better lucky than skilled_, Scott thought.  Scott kept on charging and stopped only meters from the assault mech, a bad move as it turned out.  The large mech swung its arm using the whole momentum of 80-tons, combined with the mechs leg to knock and then trip Scott's _Cauldron Born_ to the ground.  As the assault mech brought its weapons to bear on his downed mech, Scott swung his autocannon arm into place and mashed down on the trigger so hard his hand began to bleed.

He held the trigger down, sending a stream of at least six autocannon shells into the huge mech.  The second shell was enough for the big mech, but the other four kept it standing until the stream ended.  The massive 80-ton assault mech collapsed to the ground.  As Scott maneuvered his mech to its feet again, he managed a, "Well fought," over the open comm channel.

Chapter 4 

The newly blood-named Scott Masters now needed to engage a Star Commander in single combat and defeat him in order to win his rank of Star Commander.  Scott has no doubt he could win this fight.  The other warrior was old and past his prime.  Although he was only 36 years old, in the clans, that was old.  If they were going to renew their invasion against the Inner Sphere, they had no room for older warriors.  Scott was going to get his rank and his command.  He was not going to let an old veteran has-been keep him from his destiny.

It had been two weeks since his battle with the _Gargoyle_, and his mech was in top shape.  Scott had had it repainted and he liked the new look.  The preparations had been made, and his Trial of Possession would take place the following day.  The Star Commander piloted a _Rifleman IIC_, an old mech to fit an old pilot.  The 65-ton mech was a clan remake of an Inner Sphere design and it mounted four Large Pulse Lasers.  Not a bad mech at range, but even at range, it could not compare with Scott's extended range lasers.  Scott knew that even if he did not get the rank, the Steel Vipers would renew their invasion, and he knew that they would be better off with him in command of a star.  Scott was not about to let his clan down.

Two days later, the two mechs were facing off.  Scott has stayed with the _Cauldron Born_ configuration that had won the blood-name for him.  The battle began, and Scott pushed his throttle to its top speed, knowing that if he could close the gap, the _Rifleman IIC_ would not have a chance against his superior firepower.

His opponent hit Scott at range, and Scott hit back with his Extended Range Lasers.  As he closed, Scott unleashed his deadly autocannon, but he was too late as the Star Commander took to the air with his jump jets, avoiding the mech-killing weapon.  Scott followed through with all his lasers, hitting the mech in mid-air.  The _Rifleman IIC_ rocked under the attack, and fell back to the ground, landing on its feet and firing its quad-pulse lasers.

Scott again fired, this time holding back only his flamer.  The other numerous weapons struck the 65-ton adversary dead center, and finished the job that the previous laser attack had started, as the gutted heavy mech fell lifeless to the ground.  Scott had won, and was now a Star Commander in command of a full Star of mechs.  This also meant that he was now a member of Beta Galaxy.  The invasion was going to begin soon and Scott was going to be a part of it.

Ever since their loss to the Jade Falcons, the Steel Vipers had been planning to renew their invasion when the treaty of Tukkayid expired.  Until now, they had not decided how.  The plan was to take Clan Wolf's invasion corridor away from them as the Steel Viper's was taken from them.  Ever since the great Refusal War between the Wolves and Jade Falcons, the Wolves had had it coming to them, and Scott was happy that the Vipers would be the ones to finish them off.

The plan was simple; the Vipers would invade Clan Wolf's corridor and sweep across it, destroying any and every Wolf in their path.  They would leave no room for escape, and would crush the Wolves once and for all.  Scott and his Star would be a part of the first wave of the attack.  The resistance would be fairly light, but it would still be some action.  He had also heard that any units in the first wave that did not take heavy losses would also be fighting in the second wave.

The invasion was to begin in three weeks while all of the forces got into position.

Chapter 5 

Scott was finally there; he and his lance had landed and were en route to meet an enemy Star in combat.  When the Stars met, Scott opened a channel with the enemy commander.  "I propose a batchall.  You and I shall fight in single combat to decide the victor of this battle.  The winner claims the losers battlemechs as Isorla."

The response from the enemy commander to the challenge was, "Hahaha!  You are a fool.  I accept your challenge.  You will not survive the day Freebirth!"

With that, the commanders of each star were about to engage in a one on one battle, not unlike the battles Scott had just fought for his blood-name and rank.  Scott knew they were in a hurry to reach Tukkayid on time for the expiration of the treaty, and therefore had chosen to speed up this battle by only having two warriors fight.  He felt he had an advantage because of his recent experiences in single combat.

His opponent, in a _Crossbow_, came at Scott at top speed, unleashing every weapon at its disposal.  Scott weathered the damage, and returned fire with his own alpha strike.  The damage was tremendous, but not enough to put the enemy mech down.  Scott held the trigger down and let his Medium Pulse Laser and Autocannon fire numerous more times until the enemy mech fell.

Scott's _Cauldron Born_ was a ruthless mech, and an unstoppable one it seemed, as the battle was over as quickly as it had begun.  "No one crosses the path of the viper without tasting its venom," Scott called over the open comm-line for the other warriors to hear.  _My star will be fighting in the second wave now, _Scott thought. _ We have not taken a single loss, and only one mech has been damaged_.

The planet was under the Steel Vipers' control after only five hours on planet, and plans for the next wave were already beginning.  At this pace, the Vipers would sweep through Wolf Clan space and be at Tukkayid on time.  Scott received word that his Star would be in the upcoming wave, and that any unit from here to Tukkayid that was not completely destroyed in combat would move on, taking any needed replacements from crippled stars.

There was no time for organization.  There was a tight deadline to be followed.  In three months, the Tukkayid treaty would be up, and the Steel Vipers did not want to be left behind when the invasion began.

Chapter 6 

Two weeks passed, and the second wave had just taken all of its objectives.  Resistance from Wolf forces was picking up as the neared the front lines.  At this pace, not only would the Steel Vipers take the invasion corridor and make it to Tukkayid on time, but they would also absorb Clan Wolf into their own clan the same as four other clans had been absorbed in the past.  This was not just about getting a part of the corridor for themselves; the Steel Vipers were going to take away the whole Wolf corridor, and with it, all the forces the Wolves had.

Scott's Star had already seen significant combat and even more significant success, having taken one Star in the first wave, and annihilated another two Stars completely in the second wave.  Scott himself had claimed a total of five kills in the affair, including the commander of the star in the first wave.

Scott had received word that his Star would also be present in the third wave, and that Scott was up for another Trial of Possession.  He would be testing for the rank of Star Captain and command of a Trinary of mechs.

The third wave had struck, and Scott again found himself locked into another single combat battle to decide the outcome of the battle.  Although, this time, he was not the one that had proposed it.  It had been proposed by an enemy Star Colonel.  He apparently was confident of himself and his mech, because he put his whole Cluster on the line against Scott's Star in just one one on one battle.

Scott could understand the Star Colonel's confidence however.  The Star Colonel piloted a _Supernova_, a deadly 90-ton assault mech that boasted six ER Large Lasers as its only armament.  His _Cauldron Born_ was about an even match in a point blank firefight, but the _Supernova'_s long-range, jump jets, and heavy assault mech armor gave it a gross advantage.  Fortunately, the battle was going to begin at point blank, eliminating one of the enemy mech's advantages.

The fight began and cut into Scott's thoughts.  Scott weathered a blow from all six of his opponent's lasers, returning fire with only his Autocannon.  Scott quickly emptied his entire ammo bin, having unleashed all twenty of the shells.  The damage was tremendous, but if it had not been for the _Supernova_'s attack on him, Scott would not have downed the assault mech.

The barrage of laser fire he thrown off Scott's aim, and the autocannon shells had dug into the leg of the other mech.  They had worked their way up the leg of the mech until the last two shells dug into the vulnerable hip actuator, freezing the join and leaving it useless.  The weight was too much for the dead limb and the mech collapsed to the ground.  Within hours, the rest of the planet had been secured.  The third wave had been a success.  Already, Scott was having his star's mechs repaired and planning for the forth wave.

Chapter 7 

"We need help, the Vipers are coming in too fast, too determined, and too strong.  My people cannot stop them."

"Calm down Khan Ward.  I can't help you.  All my forces are tied up fighting my wretched brother, and even if I could help you, I wouldn't."  Katrina Steiner-Davion was not about to expose her ties with the Khan of Clan Wolf to the public.  Not with Victor breathing down her neck.  That would only serve to ruin her position even more.

"You have to help us.  We had an agreement.  We are going to be completely destroyed soon without reinforcements."

"To my knowledge, our agreement didn't involve me supplying you with reinforcements to fight another clan.  And even if it did, you know as well as I do that I do not have the troops available to help you."

"But Archon, we need reinforcements.  We are losing this battle and I do not see it turning around in the future."

"Well Vlad," Katrina said, moving to a first name basis to emphasize her position of power over him.  "That would be your problem to deal with as much as my brother is my problem to deal with."  _And such a large problem he is_, she thought to herself.

"I understand your position, and I am sure I would do the same thing if our places were reversed.  Fortunately for you, they are not.  You have seven regiments to guard the planet you are sitting on right now, while all my forces are being eaten away rapidly by the Vipers.  I fear defeat is imminent.  Remember this opportunity you had when the treaty of Tukkayid expires and the Vipers attack."

"Do you honestly believe they will attack?  My brother defeated them at Strana Mechty and there they signed a treaty to end the fighting permanently."

"Do you honestly believe they will honor that treaty, a treaty signed by a group of spheroids.  I was also going to attack when the treaty expired, but _I_ was going to leave your territory out of my invasion route.  I doubt the Vipers will go out of their way to get around you."  Those were Khan Vlad Ward's parting words as he severed the same-time connection between their two worlds.

Chapter 8 

Scott found himself battling a point of Elementals, the five armored men were coming at him again with their armor piercing claws, lasers, machine guns, and SRMs.  Scott unleashed a trio of shots from his autocannon.  One of the shells tore into an Elemental, instantly crushing the fragile body inside.  Scott unleashed his Machine Guns and medium pulse laser on the other Elementals, shredding the thin armor on each of them, but downing none of them.

Scott stopped firing the pulse laser and continued firing the paired machine guns.  In a few more seconds, they had tore into and mutilated the bodies or two more Elementals.  The other two Elementals had made it close enough to Scott and took to the air in an attempt to cling to Scott's mech and dig their claws into its armored hide.

Scott swung his mechs arm, and caught one of the Elementals on its side, sending it flying and instantly killing the Elemental.  The other Elemental landed on Scott's cockpit.  The enemy troop raised its deadly claw and prepared the strike directly through the thin cockpit armor.

Scott jostled his control stick sending a massive shudder through the mech and throwing the elemental off balance.  It delayed its strike in order to hang on, but Scott popped the cockpit hatch open throwing the Elemental off.  Without closing the hatch, Scott placed his foot over the Elemental, which was already getting up and stepped down.  With his fight over, Scott took the time to close his cockpit before observing the rest of the battle waiting for one of the other battles to end.

The Wolves had come at his Star with a full binary of elementals, fifty of the armored men.  Another point of Elementals came at Scott almost immediately.  Not wanting to risk another close call like the last time, Scott hit them with a full alpha strike while they were still in their tight formation.  When the smoke cleared, all that remained were ashes and twisted bodies.

Scott saw that the rest of his Star was not faring as well against the Elementals, but they were surviving.  All that remained of the two stars of Elementals was two points.  In a desperation move, all ten of the Elementals charged on of Scott's starmates and attacked.  It was at that moment that the code of Zellbriggen had been broken by the Wolves, and the Vipers were now free to gang up on the two points without any loss of honor.  The five mechs demolished the ten Elementals in seconds.  The Wolves were doomed and they knew it.  Their breaking the law of Zellbriggen told everyone in Scott's lance that the Wolves were desperate.

Chapter 9 

The Steel Vipers were preparing to launch their second to last wave.  It could be thought of as the last wave, because the final wave only had one target, Khan Vlad Ward's planet.  Before the wave was launched though, in the stages of preparation, Scott's Trial of Possession was to take place.

Scott had been lined up to face a Star Captain in the present invasion, and if he won, he and his trinary would be guaranteed a spot when the invasion of the Inner Sphere, and ultimately, Terra, began.  The Star Captain would not be an easy adversary though, for he piloted a _Timberwolf_, one of the more deadly clan mechs.

Scott ordered his tech to outfit his _Cauldron Born_ with its Alternate B configuration.  Although the heat would be greater, Scott would get much more longevity on the battlefield.  He would not have to worry about running out of ammo with the two ER PPCs, the two Large Pulse Lasers, and the paired Medium Pulse Lasers that the _Cauldron Born_ mounted in that layout.  The use of that configuration would also lend to Scott's long-range firepower, which he would need against the _Timberwolf_.

The time of the Trial finally arrived, and Scott's mech was ready as usual.  As Scott walked into the mechbay, his tech gave the mech on last look and then told Scott it was ready to go.  Scott climbed the ladder into his cockpit, then pulled up the ladder and secured it in its storage case.  He then sat down in his command couch, strapping himself in, and plugging in his coolant vest.  He closed the cockpit and then began the power up sequence.

The computer's mildly feminine voice then demanded voice identification.  "Star Commander Scott Masters."  Scott said.

"Voice authorization accepted."

The Computer then demanded a code phrase.  Since the voice could be simulated, all mechs required a code phrase known only to the pilot, in this case, Scott.  "Honor above all else."

At that moment, Scott felt his mech come to life under him.  The reactor powered up and his weapons and radar came online.  Scott pushed up his throttle to 20 KPH and moved out of the mechbay.  When he had cleared the doors, Scott pushed his _Cauldron Born_ up to full speed and lumbered out to the field of battle.

Ten minutes later, Scott was in position and the battle began.  The two mechs were much closer than his previous trials, and Scott immediately triggered both his ER PPCs, digging a pair of deep holes into the torso of the _Timberwolf_.  Scott pushed his throttle up to full speed, avoiding the enemy mech's attack.  All four of the extended range lasers scorched the air behind Scott as he closed with the other pilot.

Before Scott could get within range of his pulse lasers, the _Timberwolf_ unleashed a full salvo of forty LRMs at him.  Scott quickly switched his AMS on and the system automatically shot down as many missiles as it could.  Still, thirty of the missiles got through, but only half of them hit.  The damage was tremendous nonetheless, and Scott was barely able to keep his mech upright.  In an effort to keep his mech upright, he had pushed his mech forward to counter the backward momentum of the missile impacts.

He had also put himself in range of his pulse lasers.  At that moment, Scott fired his paired Large Pulse Lasers and Medium Pulse Lasers, digging deeper into the enemy mech.  The melting armor bubbled and boiled off of the mech.  Steam rose off the damage clan mechs.  Before the pilot could get his _Timberwolf_ under control, Scott unleashed his ER PPCs for a second time, again savaging the _Timberwolf_'s torso.  But this time, Scott's weapon fire went deeper, digging into the mech's vulnerable internal structure.  Scott fired the pulse lasers again, sending his heat levels into the red.

The only thing keeping him conscious now was his coolant vest, but the heat was worth it.  The pulse lasers crushed numerous supports and destroyed the gyro on their path to the reactor.  The reactor shielding was damaged, but not destroyed.  Nevertheless, the gyroscope was gone and the _Timberwolf_ was on its back for good.  Scott had passed yet another test on his way up through the ranks.

Chapter 10 

The fighting had been brutal.  Instead of moving on the Clan Wolf defenses, the Star Colonel commanding Scott's trinary had dropped Scott's men and another trinary directly on top of the defenders, creating a distraction allowing the other three trinaries to move in.  Scott had never seen so much death and destruction in one place.

After all the battling, two Steel Viper trinaries remained against a single binary of Wolf warriors.  Scott was still locked in battle.  His bruised and battered Cauldron Born was in the worst shape he had ever seen it in, but it was still operational.  It still had weapons and he intended to use them to defend himself against this final attacker.  The other mech had also suffered a great amount of battle damage, but not to the same extent as Scott.

Scott's _Cauldron Born_ had lost an arm, a leg actuator, hip actuator, and his torso had been breached on the left side.  Scott's mech still mounted a single ER PPC, along with one of his Large Pulse lasers and one of his medium pulse lasers.

The other mech, a _Stormcrow_, was in almost as bad a shape.  It has lost both arms, and sustained slight damage to the torso, leaving it with three ER Medium Lasers.  But the smaller mech's legs and hips were undamaged, and therefore, the 55-ton _Stormcrow_ was still very mobile.  The enemy pilot fired first, with all of its weapons.  The lasers mangled what was left of Scott's torso armor, but did nothing more.

Scott returned fire with everything he had.  The pulse lasers stitched a long scar across the torso of the mech.  The ER PPC found a hole in the torso armor and flew in.  A second later, a thick liquid began to ooze from the _Stormcrow_.  The ER PPC had found a heatsink.  No doubt the enemy mech pilot was feeling the results of the damage in his heat levels.  The _Stormcrow_ began to overheat, and as a result, Scott got the next shot as well.  The pulse lasers dug into the hole in the enemy mech's torso, mangling myomer muscles.  The ER PPC followed the path of the lasers, but struck the fusion reactor, breaching the armor and sending the mech up in a ball of flames.  _That's the end of that pilot, and the end of the battle for this planet_, Scott thought.

Chapter 11 

The sweep through Wolf occupied territory had been successful.  Now, nearly all the Galaxies of the Steel Vipers were converging on one last target, Khan Vlad Ward.  Scott and his trinary had arrived in system before most of the other Steel Viper units, but now they had all arrived, and the attack was to begin.

The travel toward the planet took the better part of four days aboard the dropship.  The dropship made its landing on the planets surface, and Scott's trinary walked down the ramp and met up with the rest of Theta Galaxy.  The galaxy was to join up with the Khan's personal trinary and it was their job to eliminate the Wolf Keshik.  The first to engage the wolves was a Star Commander who had decided he wanted to fight Khan Vlad first.  The Star Commander in his _Warhawk_ did have a tonnage advantage over the Khan's _Timberwolf_, but the Star Commander himself could not dream of matching a Khans skill in the cockpit.

The Star Commander hit first with all four of his ER PPCs, following up with his paired LRM10 racks.  In his futile effort to down the Khan of the Wolves, the Star Commander fired all four ER PPCs again.  The reckless warrior payed the price for his carelessness as his mech overheated.  The shielding of his reactor gave out, and the backup shields fell into place, leaving the mech powered down and useless.

The Khan had not even fired a shot and had won that fight.  Scott was in no hurry to fight the Khan of the Wolves, and engaged another member of the Wolf Keshik, a _Summoner_.  Scott hit it wit his pulse lasers, digging deep into the mechs right arm.  He followed up with his twin ER PPCs.  One of the streaks of blue lightning also hit the right arm, tearing it off, and with it, the _Summoner_'s ER PPC.  The other ER PPC impacted the hip of the 70-ton foe, freezing the joint, and leaving the mech motionless.

Another round of pulse lasers tore into the mech's torso before the enemy pilot got off his first shot.  The _Summoner_ hit with its remaining firepower, its LB-10X Autocannon and its LRM15 rack.  The autocannon stitched a long line of damage all the way up Scott's torso, while the LRMs were chewed up by Scott's AMS system.

Scott returned fire with another pair of charged particle bursts.  The first ER PPC struck the enemy mech's torso, ripping up armor.  But the final blow came with the second ER PPC, which impacted the cockpit of the _Summoner_.  The space that had used to contain a pilot and his controls was now just an empty gap in the top of the mech.  The omni-mech fell lifeless to the ground.

Before Scott could find another target, his next opponent found him.  Khan Vlad open up on Scott with his ER Large Lasers and all forty of his LRMs.  Scott switched on his AMS, which ate up fifteen of the warheads before they could reach his _Cauldron Born_, but the other twenty-five all hit, as did the large lasers.  Scott heard numerous beeping sounds demanding attention, and watched as just about every warning light in existence began to blink.  Scott had lost over four tons of armor in the attack, and one of the missiles had cracked his gyro casing.

Scott found his mech on its back, but maneuvered it back to its feet.  Scott fired his ER PPCs into the center of the _Timberwolf_, devouring armor.  Scott followed up with his pulse lasers.  One of Scott's pulse lasers found a flaw in the armor of the 75-ton enemy mech, and dug a deep hole into it.  Still, the damage was nothing compared to Vlad Ward's attack.  As his pulse lasers recycled, Scott fired again, pounding his way through the last of the heavy mech's torso armor.

But brute force was not going to work, as Khan Ward reached out with his ER Medium Lasers, medium pulse laser, and ER Large Lasers.  Already brutalized after the Khan's first attack, the _Cauldron Born_'s internal structure took the brunt of this attack, but Scott kept going.  He fired his ER PPCs again, finding one of the _Timberwolf_'s heatsinks, and spilling coolant all over the ground.

_That should limit his firepower_, Scott thought.  He was right, but the _Cauldron Born_ had already taken an extreme amount of damage, and when Khan Ward unleashed another salvo of forty long-range missiles, Scott knew his mech would not leave this battlefield under its own power.  Still, Scott kept fighting, switching on his AMS in a useless attempt to remain in the battle.  Knowing the LRMs would put him down for good, Scott entertained his last option, firing every weapon at his disposal.

The pulse lasers struck first, eating up what little armor there was left across the entire _Timberwolf_'s body, and digging deeper through the torso.  One of the Large Pulse Lasers also tore off the _Timberwolf_'s left arm, leaving the mech without an ER Large and Medium Laser.  The ER PPC's struck next.  One of the weapons unleashed its charged particles on the gyroscope with devastating effects.

The second ER PPC struck at one of the box-shaped missile launchers over the _Timberwolf_'s right torso.  The particle cannon dug straight through the armor, and found the ammo bin.  One by one, the missile rounds began to cook off.  The only thing that saved the mech from complete destruction was its CASE.  The piece of equipment diverted the explosions out of the mech instead of into it.  Still, the _Timberwolf_'s gyro was destroyed, and the mech fell back onto the ground.

Then Vlad Ward's missiles hit' finding anything and everything they could and destroying it.  Scott knew that his tech would have a lot to do after this battle.  That was Scott's last thought before two of the missiles impacted his cockpit, the first cracking the armor, and the second punching halfway through.

Chapter 12 

Scott woke up a week later with his Commanding officer, a Star Colonel Ryan Breen standing over him along with a pair of doctors.  Scott tried to sit up and face his commanding officer, but he could not gather the strength.  Despite his weakness, he could still talk.  "What happened?"

"You won." The Star Colonel told him.

"My _Cauldron Born_?"  Scott asked, concerned for the only mech he had ever known.

"Mostly repaired."

"How bad is it?"  Scott asked, realizing that he could not feel his right arm.

"Better than could be expected."  One of the doctors said, stepping forward.  "You suffered minor burns and cuts across most of your body, as well as a severe concussion."

"If that is all, then why can I not feel my arm!" Scott demanded.

"That is not all." The doctor replied.  "Your right arm was severely wounded in the explosion, and many of your muscles were torn to the point that they could not be used again, but we have replaced them with artificial muscles."

Scott was overcome with a mild joy at those words.  His arm would now be twice as strong as before, if not stronger.  But what really made him happy was the fact that he would be able to pilot a mech again.  Because Scott was blood-named and with much honor earned, his arm had been repaired.  The artificial muscles were of the same design as those used in mechs and elemental suits, only in much smaller quantity.  He knew if he was critically injured in this way again, he would not be given the same treatment.

Depending on the warrior's codex, his history, the first critical injury was treated.  But if after that, the warrior was wounded again, if was viewed by the clan as a bad omen, and the warrior was not given the same reconstructive treatment.  The Star Colonel had remained, which meant that he was not finished yet.

"Is there something else, Star Colonel?"

"Yes.  Khan Zalmon has received word of you battle with Khan Ward, and your performance.  He has decreed that you are to participate in a trial of possession for the rank of Star Colonel after our attack on Tukkayid is finished."  Scott's heard jumped at the opportunity to earn even more honor.  He would not fail.  He could not fail.  He had just bested the Khan of the Wolves.

Chapter 13 

Scott had ordered his tech to have his _Cauldron Born_ changed back into its Alternate A configuration.  Scott may not get the same kind of longevity, but when he was out of ammo, he would still have a large and deadly array of lasers.  Plus, he could use the devastating power of his Ultra AC20 in a tight jam.  The mech was ready by the time they arrived at Tukkayid, and Scott again found himself on the field of battle.  This time though, it was against the Spheroids.

Com Star had defended this world from the clans once before, but Scott was not about to let that happen again.  It was time to strike at the Inner Sphere and take Terra once and for all.

Scott found himself in the middle of a fight with an Inner Sphere _Crab_.  The other mech was hitting Scott with a moderate array of large, medium, and small lasers.  Scott was hitting back much harder, with his pair of ER Large Lasers, trio of ER Medium Lasers, and his Medium Pulse Laser.  The _Crab_ did not last long against the onslaught from the superior clan mech's superior clan weaponry.

Only seconds later, Scott found himself against an Inner Sphere assault clan _Devastator_.  The 100-ton assault mech attacked with its paired PPCs and two gauss rifles.  Half the shots missed, and the ones that hit did minimal damage.  Scott knew that even if it were an Inner Sphere mech, with weapons like that, it would not take long to do some significant damage.  In light of that fact, Scott unleashed a deadly alpha strike on the larger adversary.

The array of extended range lasers seared their way through three tons of armor.  The flamer did a minimal amount of damage, but drove the _Devastator_'s heat even higher.  The pulse laser followed the path of the other lasers, and penetrated the armor of the giant.  The Autocannon took the same road of destruction right through the mechs gut, and came out the other side of the assault mech.

Scott looked around and saw that the rest of his trinary had finished off the remaining Inner Sphere mechs are this Area of Operations.  His primary objective was complete.  Now it was time to move to his secondary Target.  The Inner Sphere mech factory.

Angel of Death {CSV}


	2. Venom

The Sequel to "Viper's New Hope"  
  
Same rule here as with my other stories about the random dialogue.  
  
Preview:  
Tseng followed up with 12 SRMs, which engulfed Scott's mech in fire. A thick smoke screen lay over the area from the SRMs, covering any remnants from Scott's mech.   
"Scott?" Natalie asked over the intercom, "Scott? Are you there?"  
  
Story:  
  
Venom  
  
Prologue  
"Ladies and gentlemen we interrupt your currently scheduled program to bring you breaking news from the Free Rasalhague Republic. We take you to Jerri Finchum for more."  
The screen switched to a static picture of a woman standing in some sort of military base at night. Explosions lit up the background. "Ladies and gentlemen, dropships have landed on Tukkayid. The Comstar guards are attempting to repel the invaders, which are believed to be Clan forc-" the picture was cut off and returned to the original anchor.  
"I have just received word that the invading force is the Clan Steel Viper. This particular clan was one of the leaders during their initial invasion in 3050. We well bring you more after this."  
  
Chapter 1   
Tukkayid  
Free Rasalhague Republic  
                Scott was throttling to NAV Foxtrot, which was the IP inbound to the inner sphere mech factory. He played with the right arm of the Cauldron-Born on the way. I have to get used to these new muscles; my aim has been off since I got the surgery. I have to get used to my strength; I know that now half of my effort given out by that arm is much more then it used to be. If I keep missing with that auto cannon then the ammo will go real fast. Scott was suddenly jolted back to attention by the mech's computer telling him he had reached the waypoint. "Okay, for guards we are looking at a force that is the size of a small planetary garrison. They have one company of mechs, six lances of vehicles, and two lances of aerospace fighters. Expect to hit the aerospace fighters first, we will stay at a distance from the mech factory and take them out. The mechs guarding the factory are light to medium, we should not have much of a problem." Warning lights in Scott's mech went off, he looked at his sensors, then out of the omni-mech to the night sky. "Look sharp people, the two lances of aerospace fighters are coming in. It looks like two F-14S Cheetahs and two SPD-502 Spads. Scott watched the movement of the fighters. They are coming in like a normal bombing run; this should be easy. He pointed the guns of his 65-ton mech into the air. Okay... Now! Twin large lasers lit up the night and made impact with the two Spads. SRMs rained down on the trinary from the remaining Cheetah fighters. The three of Novas in the second star created emerald bars of light in the sky. Out of the 36 medium lasers fired, three made impact, but they were enough to take out the remaining two fighters. I can't believe they actually tried that. "Good work, we will move on now."   
As they continued toward the factory a Swift wind ran into the group. One of the Summoners in his Star took care of the car without any problem. They are being careful, they want us to go up against everything at once.   
After ten more minuets of walking, they came to a hill that over looks the factory. "I want all of the Summoners and Novas to stay below the crest of the hill. Everyone in a Timberwolf, Maddog, or Hellbringer come to the top with me, we are going to pick off the vehicles. Shoot the turret control building first, then go after the vehicles." The Maddogs focused their fire on the turret control building as their array of pulse lasers and LRMs pierced the darkness. The explosion of the tower lit up a portion of the base. A dim fire remained in the rubble of the tower. "All units attack your vehicle."   
Within a matter of minuets the six lances of vehicles were gone, and the mechs were approaching. They all picked out their mech to fight one on one; Scott's was a 55-ton Grim Reaper. First he fired his large lasers, he watched the armor melt off the mech then fired his medium pulse lasers for the same effect. He fired his medium lasers and Ultra AC 20 with split second intervals. The medium lasers hit the right torso of the mech. The auto cannon, from his right arm, went wide. Darn! I have to get used to that arm. The Grim Reaper shot its medium lasers at him. Two made impact in his leg, the third missed, putting a scorch mark in the ground past his foot. Scott returned with his large lasers into the mech's right torso, then fired his medium pulse lasers to finish the mech. He sat still for a few seconds to let the mech cool down, but the mech was suddenly rocked, and warning lights went off for his rear armor. He turned around to see a 45-ton Hatchetman raising its axe again for another blow. He fired the ultra AC 20 from point blank range, which caused the explosion to destroy the cannon. He then used the right arm as a battering ram and punched the Hatchetman in the center torso, which made it fall down, he fired his set of pulse lasers to eat through the armor further. The pilot ejected to spare his life. Scott looked around and saw no more weapon fire. "All units report to your star leader." He heard confirmation from the 4 Summoners in his star. Then the others report no losses. "Good work everyone, not one loss. Now, how about torching this place?"  
  
Chapter 2  
Scott was relieved by the cool air that hit him as the cockpit of his mech opened. He was blinded at first by the lights in the temporary mech bay. The access ladder dropped from the side of the off-center pod his cockpit was in. As he reached the floor he was met by some of his starmates. He called over an engineer for a moment. "How long until our next mission?"  
"I do not know. Why?" He responded.  
"Take a look at the right arm and back armor, then you will know." Scott said. He dismissed the tech then continued on his way. He looked at his right arm and slowly rotated it. I think if I spend more time in the simulators it will help me get used to this arm.   
As he was walking down the hall to his quarters he was met by Natalie, one of the Summoner pilots in his star, and Mathew, a Maddog pilot and the commander of the second star. Natalie gave her normal greeting and Mathew came up and gave Scott a playful punch on the right arm, hurting his hand in the process. "Smart one Mathew."  
"I forgot." he returned as he cradled his hand.  
"How is the arm coming Scott?" Natalie asked.  
"I am still trying to get used to it. My aim is off a lot of the time with that arm, but not as much as it used to be." Scott replied.   
"Well that is at least better then before." Mathew said still rubbing his hand. Scott looked over and saw that his hand was bleeding.  
"You might want to get that checked out." He suggested  
"I will just put some bandages on it" Mathew replied.  
"Try to remember not to do that again." Natalie said.  
"Thank you, I will try." Mathew said sarcastically. "What gives you the right to say that anyway?"  
"I do not punch metal objects." Natalie responded.  
"Oh, right."  
"Anyway, if you two are finished, maybe we should go to the bar?" Scott chimed in. "Figured I would ask that seeing as we are about to pass it."  
  
Chapter 3  
Scott pulled his mech to the left as hard as he could to avoid the incoming pulse lasers. He took aim with the right arm and shot his ultra heavy auto cannon. The twin shells found their mark hitting the left arm and torso of the Mad Dog. The other mech fired its array of pulse lasers again; being too close to make use out of it's LRMs. The lasers all struck home in different parts of Scott's mech. He tried to fire the auto cannon again but this time all that was produced was a clicking sound. He fired his large lasers to make up for the missing auto cannon shells, hitting the right torso of the other mech. The Mad Dog fired its pulse lasers at intervals of a second hitting the legs of Scott's Cauldron- Born. Scott fired his flamer at the mech to make the heat rise even more, but doing little damage. I need to end this now. Scott pushed his mech at full speed toward the Mad Dog then, at the last second, slid into the leg knocking it clear off the mech. Scott was sliding too slow though, the Mad Dog was about to fall on his mech. The screen went blank, and the simulator door opened to a massive applause. Scott met Mathew and shook his hand. "Who won?" Scott asked.  
"Neither of us. When my mech fell on yours it cracked both of our reactor shieldings." Mathew replied.  
"Nice fight." Scott commented  
"You too. You are getting used to the arm I see." Mathew said.  
"Well, more. I still sent more auto cannon shells into the ground then into your mech."  
"I received a hurting from you though."  
  
Chapter 4  
Scott fired his heavy ultra auto cannon to finish off his opponent, a Rifleman. A pair of Javelins picked him out and started firing at him. Well there goes Zellbriggin. He fired two blasts from his heavy ultra auto cannon that knocked the mech down.  He fired his lasers to rip through the armor and destroy the mech, and one of the Timberwolves in his third star took care of the other Javelin. Scott found some free time from the battle so he stomped around the base looking for the communication building. Amazing, once we get this base destroyed we will be able to advance off of this planet. It was a good two weeks of fighting but we didn't really have any doubts. He continued his search through the base, his sight hindered by the early morning mist. I can barely see through this fog. Wait. Shrouded by the atmospheric cover, Scott could barely make out a black antenna rising from behind the hanger to his right. There it is. He rounded the corner only to find 180 tons of powered down enemy. I better take them out before the pilots get in. As he finished the thought the two mechs, an Atlas and a Zeus, powered up. Scott was able to hid his mech and turn the sensors off before they noticed him. The mechs started walking in circles around the communication array. That communication building is not very heavy, if I drop it on them it won't do much damage, I need to find a heavier building. Scott looked around for an alternative solution. That training center is good and heavy. I will have to weaken the foundation of the building though. How do I do that with out them hearing me? Wait, I have some explosives in my survival pack, if I can find some key structural points to plant them I can make that topple over. At least I can weaken the foundation and finish it with my own weapons. I will lose a lot of ground adding my own firepower, that will not mater as much with the Atlas, he is short ranged, but that Zeus could hit me with its PPCs. I will lace the building with explosives first and then worry about that.  
Scott powered down his mech and released the access ladder. He placed some of the explosives at the corners of the building on the side he would run along. He found a large crack in the base of the building. This is an old building, the structure is weakened already, I seem to be lucky today. He placed more explosives in the crack then made his way back to his Cauldron-Born. Before he climbed up the rope ladder he looked around the corner to see the communication building, which turned out to only be a tower. Good that gives me an idea. He got as close as he felt safe to the tower, which was about 50 meters from it. He drew his laser pistol and aimed for the near legs of the tower. Carefully with his left hand he lined up the shot and pulled the trigger when he was sure that neither of the mechs were looking, the Zeus was on the far side of the tower looking away and the Atlas was pacing on one of the adjacent sides of the tower. He lightly melted the tower's base and then left it. That should weaken it enough.  
Scott darted back to his mech and climbed the access ladder with his heart beating heavily. He shut the cockpit and powered up the mech then thought out his plan. I need to make the tower fall on the Zeus, that will tangle him up and the Atlas will come after me, by the time we reach the building the Zeus should have caught up and I hit the detonator for the bombs. No more mechs.  
He leaned the mech out to start his plan, He fired his Ultra AC 20 at the radio tower, which let out a loud creak and fell on top of the Zeus who struggled to get out. The Atlas gave pursuit as predicted. Scott ran dodging fire from the enemy mech. As he passed the building he fingered the trigger to the explosives. As the Atlas approached Scott hit the trigger and the building toppled over onto the mech. Wait, where is the- A Zeus hit him from behind with it's twin PPCs. Scott fired his array of lasers and dodged to the left where he was impeded by a wall. In a desperate attempt he pushed his feet hard against the ferro-crete and pushed through the wall of the building. He fell to the ground of a mech bay; the pain going through his body made him paralyzed for a moment. He brought himself back and started to aim his guns to where he expected the Zeus to be when it would look in the hole. Once in he hole Scott remained motionless to conceal his position. After the enemy mech turned on its searchlight Scott unleashed every weapon he had at the mech, it stumbled to the ground and the reactor blew. The remnants of the wall and the debris over his mech shielded him well from the blast. After about ten minutes of lying in the rubble he eased his mech to its feet and looked at the damage display. This thing can take a beating.   
  
Chapter 5  
Scott watched the sphere that was Tukkayid grow smaller and smaller as his egg shaped drop ship went farther from the planet. The ship has stopped its thrust so the gravity started dropping. Scott started to feel his feet lift off the ground and placed his right hand around a rail to keep him from floating to other parts of the ship. He turned his head to face the other side of the observation deck, looking at the drop ship's destination, the jump ship. Those Spheroids think that the jump ships are lostech. As well they were, but our scientists have figured out how to build jump ships. Though they are a lower Caste they deserve some recognition for that. I wonder if we will have such an easy time fighting on Corridan IV.  
The drop ship docked with the jump ship. He walked off of the drop ship and pulled himself down a long windowed hall by a rail. The section of the jump ship had no gravity, which made walking difficult. I wonder... He grabbed the rail by his right hand and flung himself down the hall as fast as he could. The hall he was in went the length of the jump ship. He started to slow down but still went the entire kilometer of the drop ship. He placed his arms out in front of him to cushion his impact with the wall. Stronger then I thought. Lights shone and sirens whaled, they were making the jump to Corridan IV.  
  
Chapter 6  
Corridan IV  
Freedom Theater  
Lyran Alliance  
The only glow in the night was the flames from the jump cradles. Only a militia on this planet, we should have it in a matter of days. His cockpit was black, as he did not turn any of the systems on yet. The mech made a soft landing. Wait... That should not have happened, a 65-ton machine does not land that easily, unless... He started up the mech, turned on the searchlight and look around. For the love of Kerensky! We landed in the blasted swamp!   
"Be careful everyone, we are going to have to move very slowly. Be on the look out for hover tanks, they can rip us apart in here." As if on cue, a group of Savannah Masters crossed the crest of a hill and made there way in, shooting their lasers. They focused first on the Novas. "Use your jump jets. Get above them and then shoot!" He yelled over the intercom. He quickly caught sight of one moving to his back, he pretended not to notice it. When it got behind him he stepped backwards crushing the tank. After a few moments of fighting the Masters had been destroyed with only minimal damage taken to his Trinary. It took nearly an hour to get out of the swamp, by that time the militia was ready.   
They were met by ambushing mechs. Scott's mech was rocked by auto cannon fire from his left side. He turned the torso of his mech to see where the fire came from. An agromech? They must really be desperate. What is that in his hand, an AC 5? The mech closed on Scott and raised it's set of plows and blades to dig into the thick armor. As the hand came down, Scott shot a heavy ultra auto cannon shell into his arm, blowing the array of blades off of the arm. The mech staggered backwards, and Scott slammed the left arm of his mech into the agro's midsection making it fall down. He shot his array of energy weapons to finish it. A set of large lasers hit his back followed by several pulse lasers. He turned to face a Penetrator He hit the mech with everything he had. The heat started to spike in his cockpit from the energy weapons. The enemy mech tried to hide in the buildings, but they were only small village buildings and did not provide good cover. Scott ran his mech to the left of the enemy and fired his Ultra AC 20. One shell hit the arm and the other crushed the cockpit, killing the pilot. The rest of the Trinary had taken out the rest of the defenses in the area. "The drop ships can land now, the defense in this area are destroyed."  
  
Chapter 7  
"The militia has set themselves in pretty well. The main base is on top of the tallest hill in this range. It will be hard to attack but it can be done. Remember we are superior in everyway to them. We are yet to encounter a single loss in this invasion. The main target is the power generator. Once that is destroyed then we can take out the base fairly easily. There are two more on this planet like this, one on each continent. We have these to take out, then our invasion route takes us to Skye, Dieron, and then finally, Terra." Khan Perigard Zalmon stepped down from the podium he was standing at. After he left the room, the rest followed him into the mech bay. Scott stopped an Engineer on his way to his mech.   
"Is my mech done yet?"  
"Yes sir the changes are complete."  
"Okay, good." He climbed the access ladder to his mech and retracted it into the off-center pod the cockpit was in. He shut the door and started turning everything on; double-checking his configuration was the right one. A voice came over the communication system.  
"I am all strapped in and ready to go chief." Mathew said. He had a habit of calling Scott chief because he was the Trinary's commander.  
"Me too Scott." Natalie chimed in.  
"All right, time to rock 'n roll." Scott said  
"What?" Natalie questioned.  
"Old expression, sorry about the contraction."  
"No problem." Natalie responded with uncertainty in her voice. The Khan's voice fills all of their cockpits.  
"Get ready everyone, we are moving out."  
  
Chapter 8  
George looked out of his Cestus and down into the valley to the east of the militia base. What possible significance could this planet hold that the Clans would want to attack it? George was part of the Northwind Highlanders. The Highlanders were hired by Comstar to aid in protecting the new invasion corridor. He was scanning the bumpy horizon when a weak radio message came in.  
"This is bravo one, reporting contact with the clan forces-" The message, nearly inaudible due to the static cut off. George turned his mech around to the southwest as fast as he could. Bravo lance was not to far in that direction. He started to move his mech to the site of the explosion.   
"Delta two, hold position, we're gona need you around when they get here." The commander ordered.   
"Bravo lance needs help! You want me to let them die?" George responded.  
"You're gona be dead if you go by yourself. Remember, these guys are clanners, you're not gona take on an entire cluster of them on your own." George hesitated to answer.  
"Yes sir!" He responded.  
In ten minutes the clanners arrived and the battle had started. The first mech that George saw was a Hellhound. George took the initiative with his twin large lasers. One found itself in the omni-mech's SRM rack and exploded the ammunition. The mech then took to the air, and George joined him. As the mechs neared each other, George stepped on his jump jets more, and rose above the mech. There was the crack of a sonic boom as George fired his gauss rifle into the cockpit of the Hellhound. He landed his mech and looked for another opponent. The next one was a mech of the same weight, a Cauldron-Born.   
  
Chapter 9  
Scott watched the skillful Cestus pilot defeat the Conjurer. It was his turn. Scott opened the fight by firing his heavy ultra auto cannon. The Cestus pilot avoided it and fired back with its large lasers. Ruby beams of light cut into the Cauldron-Born's heavy armor plating. Scott shot his large lasers back. One emerald shaft dug into the left torso of the mech; the other hit the ground, just wide of his foot. The Cestus got closer and closer. Scott was swinging the boxy arm of his mech at the enemy. As his arm started moving, the other mech fired its jump jets. And avoided the swing. His reaction times... Scott swung his torso around the other way and swung his other arm over. The mech feathered its jump jets and avoided the swing yet again. It is unnatural, he is reacting too fast...  
  
Chapter 10  
George landed his mech away from the Cauldron-Born. He heard some occasional yelling on the intercom over his heavy breathing. He faintly heard an order to retreat. I can't get out now, not with this Cauldron-Born on me. His stomach tightened and a quick image flashed in the back of his head. George turned his mech and stepped backwards at the same time, as he did two auto cannon shells flew right past his cockpit. What's wrong with me? George was brought out of his thought by a voice over the intercom.  
"It has come to my attention that your forces are retreating. I have never witnessed such skill in a spheroid pilot as I have in you. I shall let you retreat with them." It was the pilot of the Cauldron-Born. George hesitated for a moment.  
"Thank you, until we meet again." Was his only response. George set off for the Dropship.  
  
Chapter 11  
Scott watched the Cestus get away. An amazing pilot for the Inner Sphere. His reaction time is outstanding; they rival even mine. Very odd. I look forward to fighting him again.   
"Something wrong Scott?" He heard over the intercom. It was Natalie.   
"What? Oh, no, nothing." How could that pilot avoid everything I did? I only hit him once. It is almost as if he knew what I was going to do before I did it.  
"New Kent to Masters. Are you there? That is the second time you spaced out." Natalie said again.  
"Oh, sorry." Scott responded  
"Come on, we have to get to the Drop Ship, The reinforcements are here."  
"Okay, I am on my way."   
  
Chapter 12  
George was sitting in his bunk, leaned over with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands meeting between his legs. What is happening to me? It's almost like I can see into the future. George's thoughts were interrupted when an old family friend, Cody, entered the room. He was an older man that had just about raised George after his father died.  
"George, how's it goin'?"   
"Could be better."  
"What is it about these things you keep seeing?"  
"It's strange," George was slow to respond, "I see something happen real quick in the back of my mind, then it happens. It's like I'm seeing into the future." Cody paused for a minute  
"George, you never knew your mother, did you?"  
"No, I don't remember her at all."  
"I doubt you know this then."  
"Know what?"  
"Your mother, she was from Clan Nova Cat."  
"Clan Nova Cat? What difference does that make?"  
"The Nova Cats are known for having these types of visions; your mother was an epically gifted one. It's no surprise that you inherited that ability."  
"Wow..."   
"I don't know quite how you can learn how to use this. Some of the guys in here from the Draconis Combine might know how to. They've hung around those Nova Cats for a while. In the mean time, get ready. Skye is the next planet on the Viper's list, so that's where we're going."  
  
Chapter 13  
Skye  
Skye Province  
Lyran Alliance  
Scott scanned the ground as he fell to the planet's surface by way of jump cradles. "Hmm, desert, desert, and look at that, more desert." Scott said.  
"Hey Mathew, look who decided to grow a sense of humor." Natalie said  
"Oh, you mean I am not the Trinary jester anymore?" Mathew asked.  
"Ha ha guys, very funny," Scott replied. "Remember everyone," he continued, "They will be in ballistic heavy mechs. If you can keep dodging shots it should be a relatively easy fight." The trinary landed and moved through their waypoints until they reached a ridge before a base. "It looks like two companies, should be as easy as taking a planet from the Rim Collection." The trinary approached the base and met the defenders, two companies strong. Strange, their paint is the same green and plaid pattern as on Corridan. Scott's first opposition was a Yeoman packing 2 LRM 15 packs and 2 LRM 10 packs. Those missile racks are too easy to hit. Twin bolts of blue lighting shot from Scott's mech and made impact on separate missile racks, destroying the ammo, and crippling the mech. The next enemy Scott saw was an 85-ton Black Watch. The humanoid mech stood on top of a small hill and unleashed a barrage of 40 medium range missiles from the missile rack on its left shoulder. He raised the left arm of the mech, which consisted of a human like hand and a barrel resting on the forearm. A ferro-nickel gauss slug came from the barrel and lodged itself into one of Scott's unused missile racks. Scott responded with his large pulse lasers. Broken streaks of emerald energy left scorches in a diagonal pattern from the Black Watch's lower left torso to its upper right. Scott then shot his PPCs into the right shoulder of the enemy mech, rendering its ultra 10 auto cannon useless. The Black Watch took another shot with its light gauss rifle, this time going wide. Scott was trying not to let the immense heat get to him as he took one more shot with his large pulse lasers, hitting the MRM rack and, once again, destroying the ammunition. The explosion tore open the cockpit of the mech and killed the pilot.  
Then Scott saw it. The Cestus. The very same one he fought on Corridan, it had to be. "Spheroid Cestus pilot, this is Star Captain Scott Master of the Clan Steel Viper. I believe we met back on Corridan four. I hereby challenge you to a duel of warriors. In this solemn matter, let no one interfere."  
  
Chapter 14  
"Spheroid Cestus pilot, this is Star Captain Scott Master of the Clan Steel Viper. I believe we met back on Corridan four. I hereby challenge you to a duel of warriors. In this solemn matter, let no one interfere." George could not believe it. Is it the same the Cauldron-Born pilot? It has to be.   
"What do you say Cestus pilot? Shall we finish what we started on Corridan?"  
"Star Captain Scott Masters, this is Lieutenant first class George Patrick of the Northwind Highlanders. I hereby accept your challenge to a duel of warriors. By Clan code, I give you my honor that no one else in my unit will interfere with the battle."  
"Very well George, are you prepared?"  
"Yes, I am."  
"Then this duel officially begins." The duel started, and George's visions started to kick in again. He saw the PPC being shot from Scott's mech, and hit his jump jets. As he took to the air, Scott fired his PPCs, which passed below George's feet. George returned fire with his gauss rifle, which went wide. As he landed he dodged his mech to the left, and large pulse lasers sliced the space where George's mech was an instant earlier. His twin large lasers cut into the ground in between and to the right of Scott's legs, turning the impacted sand into glass. Scott's medium pulse lasers struck home in the torso of George's mech. George returned with another blast from his large lasers. One made contact with an arm of Scott's, which did little more then leave it black. Both mechs gained a steady footing and stood still for a moment, staring each other down. An explosion flared in the background, and a light wind blew across the field, kicking up some sand.  
"We're equally matched," George said.  
"Indeed we are. Just entertain this one question for me," Scott responded.  
"Which is?"  
"You have an uncanny reaction time. How?"  
"Visions," was George's only response.  
"Visions?"  
"Yes, my mother was from Clan Nova Cat. I inherited some special abilities from her."  
"Clan Nova Cat..." Scott trailed off. Static and some commands blared over George's communication circuit.  
"I hate to do this to you again, Star Captain, but I'm going to have to cut playtime short." George informed Scott.  
"I understand, until we meet again Lieutenant."  
  
Chapter 15  
Dieron  
Al Na'ir Prefecture  
Draconis Combine  
Scott stepped his mech out of the Dropship and into a vast forest on one of Dieron's many mountain ranges. Well the scenery is a bit more interesting then on Skye.   
"Finally, we get to walk out of the dropship; I was starting to feel like a frog with all that jumping we were doing." Mathew said.  
"Mathew, I think that was the worst analogy I have ever heard." Scott replied.   
"I have to agree with Scott on that one," Natalie added. There was silence on the radio, and then a heavy sigh.   
"Let's get the area cleaned out," Scott said. The trinary patrolled their area for about an hour with out a contact.  
"All's quiet on the western front." Natalie said with a smirk.  
"What?" Mathew asked.  
"It is an extremely old book, more then a thousand years old. About Terra's first great war." Scott informed him.  
"Oh," Mathew trailed, "Okay."  
"Scott," Natalie said, " I have something on my sensors."  
"What is it?" Scott asked  
"One mech, light." Natalie replied, "It's an Adder."  
"An Adder?" Just then 14 more mechs powered up.  
"Clan Steel Viper, this is Star Captain Wade Tseng of the Clan Ghost Bear. You are ordered to power down your mechs and surrender."  
"Neg. Star Captain Wade Tseng, this is Star Captain Scott Masters of the Clan Steel Viper, we refute your order and challenge you to a trial of possession for this sector." What is Ghost Bear doing here?   
"Very well then, Masters. I accept your challenge." As he said that, a 100-ton Kodiak rose into the air on its jump jets. It landed 100 meters in front of Scott and shot its Ultra 20 auto cannon. One shell made contact with the empty missile rack, the other with Scott's torso. Scott shot his twin PPCs in response. Blue-white lightning struck on opposite sides of the Kodiak's torso. He followed it with his large pulse lasers hitting the same two places. Tseng answered with his 8 medium lasers. The lasers strung themselves out across Scott's mech. Tseng followed up with 12 SRMs, which engulfed Scott's mech in fire. A thick smoke screen lay over the area from the SRMs, covering any remnants from Scott's mech.   
"Scott?" Natalie asked over the intercom, "Scott? Are you there? Scott!" There was only silence.   
"Chief?" Mathew asked. He slowly approached the smoke cloud. Before he got there, twin bolts of lighting shot from the cloud and struck Tseng's mech. The energy from the PPC blasts speeded up the dissipation of the smoke cloud to shows Scott's badly damaged mech. Scott shot one of his large pulse lasers and a medium pulse, striking near the cockpit of the mech. He shot his PPCs into the barrel of Tseng's Ultra 20 auto cannon. The PPCs ignited the ammo, which blew the head off of the Kodiak.   
"Clan Ghost Bear trinary," Scott said breathing heavily, "Star Captain Wade Tseng is destroyed. I hereby take you as bondsmen. You now serve the Clan Steel Viper."  
  
Chapter 16  
It took the techs a week to repair Scott's mech, but his right arm took only 30 minutes to reset the circuits. He was back out on short-range recon patrol. The Vipers were running single point patrols. Scott was moving through a small valley when he was contacted.  
"Star Captain Masters." A voice came over his comm. system. Scott recognized the voice.  
"Lieutenant Patrick. So nice to see you again."  
"I'm challenging you this time to a duel of warriors. Maybe we can finally finish what we started two planets ago." George stepped out of the brush in a different mech this time. A new clan Linebacker in the green and plaid print of the Northwind Highlanders. This mech was equal to that of Scott's Cauldron-Born, right down to the lack of a torso twist. They both stepped into the center of the valley and stood still for a moment. "So who rings the bell?" George asked.  
"Ding, ding."  
  
Chapter 17  
George took to the offensive first, knowing that Scott would stand still for a moment. He fired his twin PPCs. One hit Scott's leg, the other went wide. Scott responded with his duel PPCs, which were dodged by George. How can I beat someone that knows what I will do before I do it. Scott shot his Pulse lasers but to no avail. George responded with shots from his SRM 4 pack and LRM 5s. The missiles kicked up the ground around Scott. He backed out of the barrage and shot his medium pulse lasers back at George, who had circled around him at this point. After a PPC blast that followed from Scott's mech he charged George. George shot his PPCs again; one struck in front of Scott, the next went wide. Scott's mech made impact with George's mech, and the two went tumbling down a hill and into a lake. Scott was the first one up; he scanned the murky waters for George's mech. Is he out? Scott scanned the waters more for George. To his left the water flew up, when it settled George's mech was standing there, in as good condition as Scott's. "Time for round two George." This is going to be a good fight.  
  
To be continued...

Ghost Rider {CSV}


	3. The Bear and the Viper

A Sequel to "Venom" by Ghost Rider {CSV}

Prologue

            Erik had just had yet another vision.  It began just the same as the first, and continued where the other had stopped.  As the fight between the Bear and the Snake was winding down, both were tiring, but the victor was still yet to be decided.  The food seemed to just explode, and a shockwave was formed.  The two animals were the first in its path and were wiped out.

            Following in the wake of the first explosion was a second, which dissipated the first, and then stopped.  This vision served to effectively confuse Erik, and he decided to wait and see what would happen, hoping that he would be able to decipher the vision.

            Taylor had only just learned that the Ghost Bears had already struck at Dieron.  Apparently his Galaxy Commander had not been informed of a small scout force that had been sent in to evaluate the strength of the enemy Garrison.  No one knew what to expect because they had not gotten anything back from them.  It was assumed that they had been wiped out.

            No one had expected the Steel Vipers to be there, but they were, and in force.  They had an estimated five Galaxies on-planet, and that may not have even been their full attack force seeing as they had wiped out a full regiment of Draconis Combine forces and an additional regiment of Comstar mechs.

            Fortunately, the Ghost Bears had come in force as well, boasting five Galaxies of their own.  With both units boasting more than two thousand mechs, this was going to be a long fight, and Taylor was determined to have the Ghost Bears be the last group standing.

Chapter 1

            This time Scott hit the trigger first and, just as before, George anticipated, and maneuvered out of the way of the twin ER PPCs.  The charged particles struck the surface of the water, sending up a mix of steam and water where they hit.  George's mech landed on the bank of the lake and fired its own PPCs at Scott.  One of the brilliant streaks of lightning struck Scott's mech in the torso, shaking his mech and tearing off armor like tissue paper.  The other missed high.

George watched his PPC wreak its havoc on Scott's torso.  _Interesting, I seem to be seeing things even earlier than before.  I can only hope that my psychic abilities will continue to improve themselves._  George sidestepped his _Linebacker_ to avoid the about-to-be-fired barrage of pulse lasers, fighting back with his SRM4.

Scott returned fire with his quad-array of pulse lasers.  The _Linebacker_ dodged again, hurling a quartet of SRMs back.  Scott switched on his AMS, chewing all but one of the short-range missiles out of the air.

            _Okay, George_, Scott thought, _dodge this_.  He angled his arms five degrees to each side, tilting his torso two degrees up, and fired every weapon at his disposal, save his medium pulse lasers.  There was no way to dodge all the attacks, and George's best shot was to jump.  That is precisely what he did, but not in time.  The large pulse lasers had been angled up and caught the _Linebacker_ in the legs, boiling armor.

            George swore as his mech fell to the ground.  He fought his control stick, and before he could regain his balance, he caught another flash of future action and instinctively triggered his jump jets, too late again.  He fought his control stick in mid air while struggling with his jump jets to regain his mechs balance.  _He's getting smarter_, George thought, _first creating a situation that I could not avoid, and now hitting me hard and fast before I can regain my balance._

            As the 65-ton _Linebacker_ came down, still off balance, Scott triggered all his pulse lasers.  The _Linebacker_ had not had time to regain its balance before it tried to jump out of the way again.  Scott watched as his pulse lasers again struck George's legs, throwing his mech even further off balance.  The _Linebacker_ began to lean forward, but used its jump jets to level out its descent.

            The _Linebacker_ landed perfectly this time, its balance restored.  Scott fired his pulse lasers again, but George was ready for it, dodging to the right.  Scott continued his attack, firing one of his PPCs instantly.  This time it hit before George could side step again, but he was prepared for the second PPC, this time dodging left.  Scott mashed down on the trigger for his pulse lasers.

            George regained his balance after dodging to the right to avoid the second PPC shot, but, before he could do anything, he was hit with the pulse lasers again.  _He sure knows how to keep the pressure on,_ George thought, _but now it's my turn_.  Ignoring the warning lights blaring for attention, George fired his PPCs, LRMs, and SRMs.  Instead of watching the damage his barrage had done, he looked up at his damage display.  His legs had lost all their armor, and the pulse laser attacks had dug into the myomer musculature that was the internal structure of his legs.  His torso did not look much better: multiple breaches where the PPC and pulse lasers had dug in; one heat sink destroyed, and several support structures melted.

            Without looking up, George dodged to his left, avoiding the return barrage from Scott's _Cauldron-Born_, which had also seen better days.  George let Scott's next attack hit, deciding that four pulse lasers to the torso was much better than twin PPCs to the cockpit if he tried to jump.  An instant later, the two ER PPCs flew right over his _Linebacker_.  George was losing his grip on the fight rapidly, and he knew that if he did not get it back, ashes would be all that was left of him.

Chapter 2

            Scott weathered the alpha strike as best he could, and fired back at the Linebacker with his pulse lasers, then his PPCs, which he aimed high in case his friend wanted to try jumping out of the way.  George chose the pulse lasers, which carved up more internal structure, this time nicking the fusion reactor.  Scott slowed his rate of fire, letting his mech cool down after the toasty pulse laser strikes he had sustained over the last several minutes.  He could see George's heat levels spiking, and knew that the fight was coming to a close.

            George fought for a breath as scorching air filled the cockpit, burning his lungs.  He cursed when he finally did get a breath, knowing that with his fusion reactor damaged, his heat levels would not get better any time soon, and that with his heat levels reaching critical levels, his mech would be too sluggish to dodge anything more than a snail crawling toward his mech.  He was powerless to stop the PPCs that his mind told him were coming, and a second later, twin bursts of blue lightning emerged from Scott's mech's arms, taking a monstrous bite out of George's torso.

            Scott mashed down on his triggers, firing his primary circuit containing the two ER PPCs.  The azure flashes of charged particles ate into the Linebacker's torso and incinerated its gyro.  He watched as George and his mech tumbled to the ground.  Scott's mech's heat levels dissipated quickly with water all around his mech to soak up all the heat his mech could throw at it.  He triggered his mech to mech communications.

            George was dazed from the fall.  He was still slightly awake and managed to reach over and shut down his mech's reactor.  _Not that I'll need it with my gyro destroyed_.  The headset in his neuro-helmet crackled to life with Scott's voice.  "George, this is Star Captain Scott Masters.  I hereby take you as my bondsman.  You will relinquish all names and ranks and will be know simply as George from now on."  George had barely enough time to process what Scott had just said before he blacked out from exertion, heat exhaustion, and pain.

            Scott got no reply and assumed George was unconscious.  He checked his radar, and found that the battle about him was over.  The Steel Vipers had won the first engagement.  Natalie and Mathew stood at the top of the hill with the rest of Scott's trinary watching their Star Commander look down at his vanquished enemy.

            Scott's neuro-helmet crackled to life; it was Natalie, "Are you okay Scott?"

            "I am fine, however, my mech has seen better days."

            "You aren-… are not kidding."  Mathew was still getting used to living with no contractions.  He had been taken as a bondsman on Tukkayid, and it had taken him twenty long years to earn his rank as a Mechwarrior.

            The trinary headed out to regroup with the rest of the Cluster en route back to their base.  The techs were already on the battlefield picking up survivors and salvaging anything they could get their hands on.

Chapter 3

            George woke to find himself laying in a bed with a pair of doctors and another man standing over him.  He tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain in his back and gave up the attempt and instead pushed himself a little toward a sitting position.  He noticed that the third man's arm was a clear, pale color, although he had no clue what that meant.  He had never seen anything like it.

            One of the doctors spoke, "Well, George, you are awake.  Very good."

            George managed a, "Where am I?" although he had a pretty good guess of the answer.

            "You are in a Clan Steel Viper medical facility," the third man replied.  "Doctor, when will he be up and around again?"

            "Well, I can see nothing hindering him aside from a stiff back from the fall."

            George remembered his pain trying to sit up, "I don't think stiff even begins to describe it."

            "I will give you some painkillers to get you up and about.  You will be sore for the next few days but nothing more."

            The third man spoke again, "Good, then get up, Bondsman George."  Only then did George realize who he was talking to, Scott.  He looked down and saw three thin cords wrapped around his arm.  Scott noticed his puzzlement and said, "Those are your bond cords.  If you prove yourself loyal to the Clan, your first bond cord will be cut.  As you continue to prove yourself, your second and eventually your third will be cut.  Now, we have work to do.  We will aid my tech in repairing the damage you did to my _Cauldron-Born_."

            "I did do that didn't I?"  George grinned.

            Scott did not.  "One more thing.  You will cease all use of contractions from now on."

Chapter 4

            After the damage Scott's _Cauldron-Born_ had sustained, it took forty-eight hours for the three of them to repair the mech.  It had taken them an additional twenty-four hours to modify his _Cauldron-Born_ to its Alternate A configuration.  They had finished just in time for Scott to go into battle once more.  This time, his fight was against the Ghost Bears, who were currently inbound on Dieron.  Khan Perigard Zalmon had decided to give them a warm welcome.

            Scott climbed up into his command couch and initiated startup procedures.  He reached up and grabbed his neuro-helmet from its resting place in an overhead compartment.  He plugged his coolant vest into his cockpit, and settled the neuro-helmet over his head, where it rested comfortably on his shoulders.

            Taylor's first target was a _Cauldron-Born_, and although his 25-ton _Packhunter_ was facing off against a mech more than twice its size, he was fearless and confident in his mech and his skills.  Though only a Mechwarrior in rank, he had earned his blood-name.  He was not about to lose to a Steel Viper.

            Taylor fired the first shot, his ER PPC carving a hole in the center armor of the heavily armored 65-ton enemy mech.  The _Cauldron-Born A_ hit back with its twin ER Large Lasers and trio of ER Medium Lasers, carving up most of Taylor's torso armor in one shot.

            Scott returned fire on the _Pack Hunter_ with all of his Extended Range Lasers, the five beams, varying in intensity, tearing up the 25-ton mech's torso armor.  _Insolent freebirth.  He thinks his little pest has a chance against my _Cauldron-Born_, _Scott thought.  But Scott was no fool.  He knew that even though the _Pack Hunter_ only mounted one weapon, a single ER PPC in the right hands was all a pilot needed.

            Knowing this, Scott punched his trigger once more, unleashing his autocannon and pulse laser.  The autocannon missed wide, but the pulse laser hit home, burning up even more torso armor.  _STRAVAG! _Scott thought, _I need to get used to the strength I have in my right arm or I will never be able to use this configuration effectively again._

            The pulse laser struck Taylor's torso, boiling up more armor, but fortunately the heavy twenty caliber ultra autocannon missed wide, instead shredding up the dirt behind Taylor's mech.  _I lucked out that time.  I need to end this fight before I give his mech's firepower a chance to eat right through me_.  At that moment, Taylor proved why he had earned his blood-name, and catching the eye of his Galaxy Commander, unknowingly earned himself the right to test for the rank of Star Commander.

            Taylor triggered his jump jets, pushing his mech up and forward.  He landed only a meter behind the _Cauldron-Born_, and before the other mech could turn to face him, Taylor lashed out with his mech's fist, which boasted four claws.  The punch tore straight through any rear armor the heavy mech had, and as he pulled his _Pack Hunter_'s arm out of the _Cauldron-Born_, he placed an ER PPC shot right inside the hole that the punch had made.  The ER PPC quickly turned the _Cauldron-Born_'s gyroscope into molten scrap.

            Taylor looked up from his victim to see his fellow Ghost Bears in complete disarray.  The Khan had called a complete retreat; the Steel Vipers had won the day.

Chapter 5

            Scott pounded his fists against the control panel, "FREEBIRTH!"

            He opened his cockpit and stepped out onto the battlefield.  The techs were already scrambling around salvaging what they could.  Scott spotted his tech and George and waved them over to pick up his mech.  The damage was minimal aside from the gyro, which could be fixed.  Other than that, all they had to do was slap on some armor plates and his _Cauldron-Born_ would be ready to go.

            Scott moved to board the salvage vehicle carrying his _Cauldron-Born_.  He wanted to get started on repairs the minute they got it back to the mechbay and in its slot.  The trip was not very long, and it did not take much time to get his mech in its proper place.  Scott, George, and Scott's tech, Will got to work right away.

            Taylor climbed down the access ladder from his mech and waved his tech to get to work.  He rendezvoused with his Star Commander and the rest of his star on the way out of the mechbay.  Surprisingly enough, every mech from the mixed medium and light star of mechs had survived the fight.

            "Fifty percent losses in our Galaxies.  The other Galaxies did not fair mech better.  Estimated twenty-five percent loses to the Steel Vipers," the Star Commander told them.

            "We will crush the surats in our next engagement," declared Rob, the most hotheaded warrior in their trinary.  Taylor could not help but agree with him.

            "By the way, nice moves taking out that _Cauldron-Born_, Taylor.  It appears you caught the Galaxy Commander's eye.  He has designated you for your trial of possession once our fight with the Steel Vipers is over," the Star Commander told him.

            A tech appeared among their group and handed the Star Commander a message.

            "No rest for the weary.  Get your mechs refitted and repaired as quickly as you can, we leave in one hour.  We need to keep the pressure on the vipers."

Chapter 6

            Scott's trio was still working on his mech when an alarm went off in the mechbay.  All Mechwarriors were ordered to mount up and meet an inbound Ghost Bear attack force.  They had been working tirelessly for the last two hours, and, having received help from a number of techs, had managed to repair his gyroscope, and were now finishing up with the armor repairs.

            Scott began climbing the chain ladder leading to his cockpit while George and Will finished patching up the holes in his armor.  By the time he reached the cockpit and was strapped in and set to go, the armor was finished, and he began the startup.  When the computer prompted him for voice identification, Scott replied "Star Captain Scott Masters."

            The computer accepted his voice ID and continued by prompting him for the pass code to unlock all systems to his control.  Because techs and others had access to the mech, and because voice IDs could be faked, mechs were required to have a pass code known only to the pilot, which unlocked all the systems, including weapons.  "Honor above all else," Scott replied.

            Scott set his throttle on low until he cleared the hanger with the rest of his star, and then pushed it up to max throttle to join up with the rest of the Steel Vipers.  The Ghost Bears were close, and it only took a matter of minutes for Scott to find his first contact.  To his surprise, it was a _Pack Hunter_, the same one that had beaten him before.  Scott grinned, _Good; this freebirth will not survive the day_.  Scott claimed the _Pack Hunter_ for himself, and the rest of his star left it alone.

            Scott fired his twin ER Large Lasers at range, burning two large scars into the _Pack Hunter_'s torso, leaving a ton and a half of molten Ferro-Fibrous armor flowing in streams to the ground.  Scott followed through with his three ER Medium Lasers, burning a trio of smaller scars into the 25-ton enemy mech.

            Off to the side, Scott saw twin Gauss slugs from Mathew's _Maddog_ Alternate D flatten a forty-five ton _Shadowcat_ into the ground.  The Medium mech began standing up before Mathew fired another set of rounds into it.  The mech stayed down that time.

            The _Pack Hunter_ took to the air after Scotts attacks, firing its ER PPC.  The blue burst of charge particles tore through the recently replaced armor on his torso, creating a new scar where there had been one only two hours before.

            The light mech landed only a hundred meters in front of Scott, and Scott unleashed a full alpha strike, two ER Large Lasers, three ER Medium Lasers, one Medium Pulse Laser, a twenty caliber ultra autocannon, a flamer, and even his anti-infantry machine gun at it.  His assault bathed the entire left side of the _Pack Hunter_ in fire.  When the smoke cleared, the left arm was missing, the entire left torso had been torn off, and the _Pack Hunter_ was lying on the ground.

            The enemy pilot fired his ER PPC from his right shoulder mount, scoring another hit on Scott's torso, giving him enough time to get his mech back on its feet.  The _Pack Hunter_ jumped backwards, and Scott was about to pursue when he received an order from the Star Colonel to withdraw.  He turned in time to see the parting shot of forty LRMs from Natalie's _Crossbow_ tear a 40-ton Ghost Bear _Viper_ to pieces.  The mech melted under the explosions, and when the smoke cleared, was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal on the ground.  The Ghost Bears would not be salvaging more than an armor plate or two from that mech.

            _The _Pack Hunter_ pilot has eluded death today, but tomorrow will be his undoing,_ Scott thought.

Chapter 7

            Scott learned from his Star Colonel that the Ghost Bears had brought in reinforcements in the form of an additional two galaxies.  The Steel Vipers had been forced to abandon their base when the Ghost Bears had continued their pursuit, and were now being tracked by the bears across the northern continent.  They had devised a plan, which was to be sprung at a nearby marsh.

            A full trinary of seventy-five elementals was hiding submerged in the murky waters, the water masking their heat signatures and the properties of the swamp masked their magnetic signatures, hiding them completely from radar.  The only thing that kept the Steel Vipers from trampling them was that the elementals were underwater in designated spots that every Steel Viper mech knew about.

            However the Ghost Bear's did not, and that was the trap.  The Ghost Bears would start wading through the swamp, and a second later, elementals would swarm almost a full cluster of mechs, which is when the Steel Vipers would whirl around and open fire on the Ghost Bear force.  The vipers had also called in reinforcements, but they would not arrive for another two days.  Khan Perigard Zalmon was hoping to do enough damage with this strike that the two galaxies he had called in would easily crush the bears.

            Unfortunately, the plan did not work as well as they could have hoped.  The trap was sprung perfectly, and the Steel Vipers turned and fired well.  But the Ghost Bears' superior numbers just pushed right though the elementals, withstanding the fire from the Steel Viper Galaxies, and forming a semi-circle, caught the vipers in a crossfire.

            Scott found himself locked in battle with a Ghost Bear _Grizzly_.  The 70-ton heavy mech opened up with its gauss rifle and ten LRMs.  The gauss slug clipped his shoulder, just grazing his empty missile rack, tearing off little more than paint.  Scott's AMS clawed eight of the long-range missiles out of the air, and the other two fell short, detonating on the surface of the water.

            Scott fired next, unleashing his heavy ultra autocannon, the two shells tearing almost three tons of armor off of the enemy heavy mech's torso, and throwing off the return attack.  That attack came in the form of a large pulse laser, medium pulse laser, and small pulse laser, which all missed at least three meters high.  Scott followed through with his ER lasers, both large and all three mediums.  Even more armor was shed from the torso of the 70-ton beast.  A large hole was opened over the _Grizzly_'s heart, and Scott fired his flamer into the gap.  The liquid fire planted itself on the 70-ton mechs fusion reactor.  The _Grizzly_'s heat levels spiked, and Scott ended his foe's suffering, hitting the _Grizzly_'s fusion reactor with his heavy autocannon, sending the heavy mech up in a massive fireball.

            Scott looked up in time to watch Mathew's cockpit get cored by a burst from a particle cannon.  He watched the _Maddog_ stumble forward, and fall into the murky waters of the swamp.  Scott did not hold any hopes that his starmate had survived the attack, and did not bother to call and see if he had.  Instead, he searched for the source of the ER PPC strike, and found a _Pack Hunter_ standing fifty meters away.  He triggered an open frequency, and addressed the pilot he had fought twice before.

            "To the pilot of the _Pack Hunter_.  This is Star Captain Scott Masters of Clan Steel Viper.  You will pay for my starmate's life with your own.  I challenge you to a duel of warriors.  You got lucky last time.  Today, your luck runs out."

            "Star Captain Masters, good to see you again.  This is Mechwarrior Taylor Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear.  I accept your challenge.  As for my _luck_ running out, we will just have to see."

            The _Pack Hunter_ triggered its ER PPC, giving Scott's _Cauldron-Born_ a blackened scar on its torso.  Scott fired back with every weapon he had, coring the 25-ton humanoid _Pack Hunter_.  The shoulder gun mounting the ER PPC survived however, and the _Pack Hunter_ fired before losing its footing in the swamp and falling backwards.

            Taylor struggled to get his mech back to its feet.  He had nearly lost to this _Cauldron-Born_ before, putting their head to head record at one a piece.  He would not allow this Steel Viper Star Captain the pleasure of claiming two out of three.  As he was getting up, he fired his ER PPC again, tearing more armor off of the heavily armed _Cauldron-Born_.  When he got up he realized just how close the 65-ton mech was, but it was too late, as he watched the barrel of its autocannon coming straight at him.  Taylor watched his life pass before his eyes before falling into an eternal darkness.

Chapter 8

            Scott stood there and watched the 25-ton murderer of his starmate fall to its knees and crumble into the waters of the swamp.  The extra push of his enhanced right arm on the control stick had produced an incredible extra pop in his _Cauldron-Born_'s punch.  If he had had the time, he would have opened his cockpit and spit on the remains of the enemy mechwarrior.  However, he did not have the time.  The Steel Vipers were losing this fight badly.  Scott called his trinary together for one final push before the order to withdraw was called.

            Scott found that only one star of warriors from his trinary had survived.  Only six strong, they made their push anyway.  His _Cauldron-Born_, Natalie's _Crossbow_, a _Matador_, a _Timberwolf_, a _Summoner _Alternate B, and a _Vapor Eagle_.  Zellbriggin had already been thrown to the wind, and the _Summoner, Timberwolf_, andNatalie's _Crossbow_ all unleashed their LRMs on an enemy _Kodiak_.  A total of one hundred and twenty missiles, all attracted to the _Summoner_'s Narc Beacon, pounded the 100-ton _Kodiak_ into scrap.  Only a smoking pile of twisted metal remained where a proud assault mech had once stood.

The _Matador_ in Scott's band of mechs was crushed under the fire from a Ghost Bear _Kingfisher_ and _Warhawk_.  The _Kingfisher_ was mauled by laser fire from Scott's mech, the _Timberwolf_, _Summoner_, and the _Vapor Eagle_.  Natalie began working on the _Warhawk_ and got two ER PPCs to the torso for her forty LRMs.  Scott turned and fired his autocannon and flamer at the 85-ton _Warhawk_.  The _Vapor Eagle_ also fired its autocannon at the assault mech, leaving the crippled _Kingfisher_ in the capable hands of the _Timberwolf_ and _Summoner_, who quickly finished the 90-ton mech off.

Plagued with the heat from his four ER PPCs and Scott's flamer, the _Warhawk_ was on the brink of a reactor overload, and was no doubt pushing his override button every few seconds.  Scott's remaining star of mechs each unleashed a full alpha strike of weapons at the heat plagued war machine, and when the smoke cleared, the _Warhawk_ was gone.  Not even ashes remained.

"All Steel Viper forces, withdraw.  The Ghost Bears have won today."

Scott keyed his trinary's communication frequency, "You heard the Khan, lets pull out."

"Aye," was the response from his people.

Only five mechs remained of Scott's command, however few trinaries had fared that well.  Only Khan Zalmon's Keshik had emerged from the fight with more warriors than Scott's command.  Six of ten warriors had survived from the Keshik.  Most of the other trinaries had either two or three warriors out of fifteen left.  The Steel Vipers had been crushed.  Fortunately, the bears had not pursued, instead stopping to lick their wounds.

The Steel Vipers cleared the swamp and set up a temporary camp to repair and refit their mechs as much as possible.  The Khan set himself to the task of putting together new commands with what was left.  Scott retired for a few hours of rest after seventy-two hours in the cockpit, and left the well rested George and Will to tend his damaged _Cauldron-Born_.  Fortunately, their job was easy.  They only needed to slap on a few armor plates and reload his autocannon.  For once, his _Cauldron-Born_ had not been completely wrecked in combat.

Chapter 9

Scott woke to find that he had received a field commission of Star Colonel, and would have command of a full cluster.  Natalie now commanded one of his trinaries.  All this was a result of the Steel Vipers having roughly one Galaxy remaining, and not enough high ranking officers to command them.

The two Galaxies of reinforcements would arrive in thirty-six hours, and the Steel Vipers needed to be on the move again to meet them.  The Ghost Bears, three Galaxies strong, were closing in, and the Vipers needed to make full speed in order to kept ahead of the bears and make it to the rendezvous in time.

Scott moved to his mech to find that it had not only been re-armored, but George and Will had managed to get it into its Alternate B configuration.  They had not had time to do that before leaving the base for the second major battle.  But now, especially since he likely would not be refitting for several days, he needed the energy weapon configuration for its longevity.

Scott climbed into his command couch, and prepped for startup, grabbing his neuro-helmet, stowing the access ladder, and plugging his coolant vest in.  He initiated the startup and called his Cluster to form on him.  As Khan Zalmon began to move out, the Steel Vipers formed on him with the APCs, repair vehicles, and cargo haulers in the lead to keep them away from the Ghost Bears.

Scott's Cluster was the rear guard for the Galaxy, and after only a few minutes, he found himself in a bit of a predicament.  A star of elementals had swarmed his Cauldron-Born, and he was losing armor to their claws and lasers faster than it could register on his displays.  He guessed that they had been deployed overnight to delay the Vipers when they tried to move out.

Scott did not have time to think, and, acting on instinct, released his control sticks, allowing his _Cauldron-Born_ to fall to its back, crushing three of the elementals under 65 tons of metal.  He felt his mech rock under minor laser fire and watched one of the red blips go out.  He watched as the second elemental reached his cockpit and raised its claw arm, about to rip straight through Scott's cockpit and literally take Scott's head from his shoulders.

Fortunately, the attack was stopped before it started, as a gauss slug from a nearby _Shadowcat_ pounded the elemental into scrap.  The nickel-iron slug carried the armored warrior twenty meters before depositing his remains in the dirt.  Scott got his mech to its feet, checking his damage and thanking his starmates for clearing off the last two elementals for him.

Natalie added her apology for not helping, but Scott agreed with her that her forty LRMs would take care of the elementals, but they would also take care of Scott.  With the elementals wiped out, and two mechs from his command down, Scott's cluster moved to rejoin the Galaxy.

Chapter 10

            The Steel Vipers were one kilometer out when the dropship began to land.  The two Galaxies had finished deploying by the time the Steel Vipers arrived, and were deployed in a position for the retreating Galaxy to retreat and join formation.  They were ready to receive the Ghost Bear attack, and when it came, it came in full force.  All three Ghost Bear Galaxies struck the three Steel Viper Galaxies at the same time.

            The effect was devastating.  Lasers, PPCs, gauss rifles, autocannons, flamers, missiles, and machine guns tore up the field of battle.  Scott was engaged with a Ghost Bear _Direwolf_ and was taking a beating, but dishing one out as well, his pulse lasers and PPCs working the 100-ton enemy mech over.  The _Direwolf_ returned fire with its own lasers and autocannon.

            Scott lucked out when the enemy mech fired its LRMs.  His AMS chewed six of them up, but the other four curled downward to late and drove themselves into the back of Natalie's _Crossbow_.  With Zellbriggin broken, and her having just dropped a Ghost Bear _Ursus_, she whirled around, unleashing a lethal barrage of forty long-range missiles at Scott's target.  Being an assault mech, the _Direwolf_ weathered the assault rather well, but not well enough to withstand what Scott added to it.  Scott's large and medium pulse lasers shredded armor off the torso of the beast, and his twin PPCs broke through the light armor that remained, carving a good sized chunk out of the assault mech's gyroscope and putting it out of the fight.

            Scott ordered each mech in his cluster to pair up with another mech and gang up on a Ghost Bear mech.  Scott himself stuck with Natalie, and they tore a _Hunchback IIC_ to pieces in seconds.  Their next target was a Ghost Bear _Executioner_, which lashed out at Scott with its gauss rifle and twin ER Large Lasers, and took to the air to minimize the damage of Natalie's LRMs.

            There was no way the pilot could minimize the damage of Scott's twin ER PPCs, which chewed two and a half tons of armor off of the 95-ton assault mech's center torso.  As the _Executioner_ landed, Scott triggered his pulse lasers, tearing a deep scar across the torso of the assault mech.  Natalie added her LRMs to the damage, and all but five missiles hit home.  Ten of the missiles found the cockpit of the giant, coring the head, pilot and all, in a ball of flames.

            The Ghost Bear's caught on to the ganging tactics, and a full star of mixed light and medium mechs came at Scott and Natalie.  Natalie was the first of the seven of them on the trigger, her LRMs coring a 20-ton _Firemoth_ and putting it down before a shot could be fired.

            Scott picked the most dangerous target in the Ghost Bear star, an _Adder_, and fired his pulse lasers, following with his ER PPCs.  The heat levels in his cockpit rose, but it was worth it as Scott's ER PPCs cut off the 35-ton mech's leg before it could make use of its own twin ER PPCs.

            The other three Ghost Bear mechs managed to fire back.  A Ghost Bear _Viper_ dug into Scott's torso with its five ER Medium Lasers and 6-pack of SRMs.  A _Clint IIC_ attacked Natalie with his twin ER Medium Lasers and autocannon, and a second _Firemoth_ hit Scott with its twin ER Medium Lasers and ten short-range missiles.

            Armor fell from both of their 65-ton mechs, and they returned fire.  Scott's pulse lasers found the cockpit of the _Firemoth_, boiling its pilot alive, and leaving the mech to fall limp to the ground without its brain.  Natalie's forty LRMs sank their teeth into the 40-ton _Clint IIC_, crippling it for Scott's twin ER PPCs to finish off.  The _Viper_ was about to strike at Scott when it was hit from behind with forty LRMs and four ER Lasers from a _Timberwolf_.  The wave of fire easily tore through the armor of the medium mech, coring its innards from behind, and leaving a smoking heap of scrap at the feet of Scott and Natalie.

            The two fresh Galaxies combined with the Khan's improvised Galaxy had thrown the Ghost Bears into complete disarray.  One of the fresh Galaxies had moved to cut off any Ghost Bear retreat, and now the bears were being slaughtered.

Chapter 11

            The fight for Dieron was coming to a close, and it looked as though the Steel Vipers would hold the day. Then Scott's headset in his neuro-helmet came alive.

            "Khan Zalmon," it was the panicked voice of a comm. technician.  "We have dropships inbound, more than I can count.

            "Do you know who?" was the Khan's response.

            "From here we could not ID them, but we received a transmission from one of our Jumpships.  Our Warship was destroyed.  The attackers belong to the Word of Blake, and from the looks of it, they are bringing at least seven Regimental Combat Teams."

            "Understood."

            _For the love of Kerensky_, Scott thought.  _What could they want with Dieron, and how in Kerensky's name did they get seven RCTs.  This is not good_.

            "This Khan Perigard Zalmon to all Steel Viper warriors.  We will finish off the Ghost Bears and then withdraw from this planet.  We have hostiles inbound in more numbers than we will be able to handle.  Our attack on Terra will have to wait."

            Scott's heart sank with those words, but he did not allow it to hinder his fighting.  He, Natalie, and the _Timberwolf_ were still tearing through the Ghost Bears like a hot knife through butter, and they would not stop until the bears were wiped out.  But Scott's mind was elsewhere, racing to figure out what interest Word of Blake had for Dieron, and how they had gotten seven RCTs together for the attack.

            It was only several minutes before the Ghost Bears on Dieron were no more, and the mechs remaining in the Steel Viper force began to board the dropships.  Scott and his Cluster boarded one of the dropships, and Scott piloted his _Cauldron-Born_ to its slot before making his way to the command center of the giant mech hauler.

            The Steel Vipers dropships lifted off together and began their trek toward the jump point.

            It was a day before the Steel Viper forces intercepted the inbound Word of Blake dropships.  The Steel Viper dropships had no choice but to engage, and their first attack destroyed seven Word of Blake dropships.  It was nothing more than a drop in the ocean as the Word of Blake invasion force, which included a trio of Warship escorts, returned fire.  By the time the fight was over, the Steel Vipers only had three dropships left to make it to the Invader Class Jumpship at the Nadir Jump point.  It was the only Jumpship to survive the naval battle that had taken place.

            They jumped out of the system as soon as their dropships attached themselves to the Jumpships.  Only Scott's dropship, the Khans dropship, and one other dropship had escaped.

            The Steel Vipers jumped to the Skye system less than a Galaxy strong.  They found out when they arrived on Skye that Word of Blake had attacked numerous planets near Terra in force in the first wave of their so-called "Jihad".  No one had been able to stop them, and they were continuing to move outward from there.

            It was not long before Scott received word that Word of Blake had jumped in-system and had dropships inbound.  Khan Zalmon decided to make a stand on Skye, but made sure that the dropships would be ready to go if they needed to retreat off planet.

Epilogue

Erik had just learned that Word of Blake had begun a set of attacks against the entire Inner Sphere and there was no stopping them.  Numerous units had tried and been crushed.

            Erik assumed that the first shockwave of the explosion was Word of Blake.  So far they were sweeping through the Inner Sphere like a wave.  He had no way of knowing what the second shockwave was, but he could only hope that whatever it was, it would dissipate the Word of Blake attacks as his vision had suggested.

            Erik could not help but think of what would have happened to the Word of Blake Jihad had the Ghost Bears and Steel Vipers not pitted a total of fourteen Galaxies against each other.  Fourteen Galaxies would have easily been enough to crush any attacks Word of Blake would have made.  However, that had not happened, and there was no point in thinking about it.  There was a war to be fought, and Erik, along with the Novacats, were moving as fast as they could to make it to the front lines against Word of Blake.

            Scott was in the cockpit of his _Cauldron-Born_, recently converted back to its Alternate A configuration, knowing that he would need it against Word of Blake.  Knowing that George had been a pilot, needing as many mechs against Word of Blake as they could get, and having more mechs than they had pilots, Scott had cut George's bond cords.  He had been given a _Rifleman IIC_ salvaged during the fight with the Ghost Bears and was made an extension of Scott's Command Star.  The _Rifleman IIC_ was a deadly design in the right hands, despite being a second line clan mech.  A remake of the Inner Sphere _Rifleman_, it was 65 tons and mounted four Large Pulse Lasers and jump jets to go with them.

            Scott and his Cluster stood watching the Word of Blake dropships descend.  Knowing that the entire Inner Sphere's safety and their chances at claiming Terra were at stake, the Steel Vipers had armed all of their bondsman and had even armed the planetary militia with clan mechs, and, absorbing the militia into their ranks as the cost for arming them, were now a full galaxy strong.  The last word placed the Word of Blake invasion force at three RCTs.

            That gave the Steel Vipers about fifty more mechs than Word of Blake, although there were no doubt a number of vehicles and infantry, but taking technology into account, the Steel Vipers had a decent advantage.  Scott only hoped that they would capitalize on the advantage and be the first ones to prove that Word of Blake could be stopped.

            The Word of Blake dropships landed, and their forces were deployed.  The battle had begun, and Scott's first target was a Word of Blake _Thunderhawk_ piloted by the commander of one of their RCTs.  Scott opened up with his Ultra Autocannon and extended range lasers, throwing off the 100-ton mech's three gauss rifles.  The _Thunderhawk_'s four medium lasers hit, but did little more than blacken Scott's _Cauldron-Born_'s heavy clan armor.  The battle for Skye had begun, and as Scott might put it: Only Kerensky knew who would win, and what the next several years would bring.  And if Kerensky did know, he also knew that they would be very dark times.

To Be Continued…

Angel of Death {CSV}


End file.
